The Bone Clocks

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell is one crazy novel. With all the hype about this new book, I was determined to get through it, but the sudden plot changes had me confused and anxious. Pico Iyer’s review in the New York Times helped: “You may not believe in telepathy, second sight or reincarnation, but if you enter Mitchell’s universe you can’t not believe in them either.”

The story begins with teenage Holly Sykes running away from home to escape a mother who doesn’t understand her and a boyfriend who has betrayed her. Her plan is to stay away just long enough to make them miss her. According to Iyer’s review, Holly jumps forward from 1984 to 1991, 2004, 2015, and far into 2025, before the apocalypse in 2043. I never made it past 1991. Although Mitchell may be a great writer and the book is long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, Iyer’s review convinced me the 624 pages were too much for me. I downloaded the book to my iPad; maybe I’ll tackle it again later.